Grand Coulee to Grunge: Eight Stories that Changed the World

May 8 – July 5, 2015

From a Starbucks store in Malaysia to a 747 on a tarmac in Antarctica; Washington is everywhere. We built “the biggest thing on earth.” We ended a world war. We introduced air travel and helped put man on the moon. The fruits of our labor appear on dinner tables around the globe. Even Northwest grunge became iconic worldwide. Through the ages, big dreams and big risks tell the Washington story.

“Grand Coulee to Grunge: Eight stories that changed the world” was organized by Legacy Washington and the Office of the Secretary of State. It is an image-driven exhibit recounting feats in business, science, technology and music that helped put Washington on the map globally. Each of the exhibit’s eight panel’s focus on a key story of those who strove to dream big and make a lasting global impact.

The exhibit spotlights eight stories that influenced the world:

• Building the Future looks at Weyerhaeuser’s rise into a timber empire.
• Created the “Eighth Wonder” is about the building of the Grand Coulee Dam and how it revolutionized Washington agriculture by bringing irrigation to a parched Eastern Washington, provided cheap hydroelectric power and aided in the production of aluminum for Boeing aircraft used in World War II.
• Ended the War reviews the Hanford Nuclear Reservation’s quiet yet vital role in providing plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, helping end World War II.
• Introduced Air Travel spotlights Boeing’s central role in aerospace and its contributions to world air travel, as well as its role in the creation of the Saturn V rocket that literally launched several Apollo missions to the moon.
• Feeding the Globe tells how Washington’s agriculture industry grew to become a worldwide leader in the export of apples, wheat, potatoes, wine and other first-class products.
• Exporting the Culture is about innovative companies like Microsoft, Starbucks, Costco and Amazon.com that have become known globally.
• Rocked the Planet takes viewers back to various times when Washington musicians reached stardom and legendary status, from crooner Bing Crosby to famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix to Nirvana, which exploded onto the rock music scene in the early 1990s and helped make grunge a household word.
• Wired the World looks at how Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed Microsoft and transformed it into a computer software colossus that helped connect the world and created thousands of “Microsoft millionaires” in Washington alone.